


Parasites

by Jeanne_Sans



Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Domestic Violence, Gen, Out of Character
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-14
Updated: 2020-12-14
Packaged: 2021-03-11 00:28:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,575
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28046190
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jeanne_Sans/pseuds/Jeanne_Sans
Summary: One time when the Doctor is asked to be a medical doctor. Set after season 11 and before season 12.
Kudos: 2





	Parasites

_Missy!

_Do you think you could get rid of me?

_What are you doing? No! Stop that!

_Never!

Missy detonated the bomb that she was holding in her hand.

The Doctor woke up, drenched in cold sweat. It was just a dream. It had been a long while since she last saw Missy alive. She had regenerated into a woman and just when she seemed to have turned into a good person, she disappeared. Somehow the Doctor couldn’t help herself but be disappointed and bereft with grief. After all, Missy and herself had been friends once, a long time ago. That had to count for something.

*

The next day, the Doctor was in a mood. Like usual, she didn’t want to share what was going on with her, despite all the prodding by her teammates.

_What’s going on, Doc?

_Nothing, Graham. I’m just thinking.

_You’ve been “thinking” for a while now. Tell us what’s going on.

_Nothing!

_Alright. Have it your way.

The members of Team TARDIS were usually very patient with her and her moods, but this time, something seemed to be bothering Graham.

_What’s with you, Graham? Aren’t you in a strange mood lately?

_Not more than you!

_That’s not fair.

_No it isn’t.

_No but really. What can I do for you, Graham?

As soon as her focus switched from her own thoughts to Graham’s distress, the Doctor’s attitude changed.

_Well, one of my mates is ill. No doctor can diagnose him. I thought that maybe you could take a look at him and tell us what’s wrong. Since you’re a doctor.

_I’m not that kind of doctor, but I’ll see what I can do.

The Doctor disappeared into the TARDIS’s corridor and reappeared with a briefcase in her hand. She approached the main console.

_Where to, Graham?

_Hold on a second, we’re not going to go by TARDIS, that would scare him. Let’s go by bus like regular people, please?

_OK, fine.

*

After a fifteen minutes bus ride, the Doctor and Graham made it to a small brick house in the suburbs. At first glance, nothing seemed out of place, but the Doctor shivered. Something was definitely going on.

Graham got to the door first and rang the bell.

_Daniel, it’s us. It’s Graham and the Doctor. I promised I would bring her here.

There was a moment of silence, then the click of a key and the turn of the doorknob. A middle aged man appeared in the door frame. He had a tan that was fading, and graying hair. His face was pale with dark circles under his eyes.

_Graham, it’s you. Thank you for coming.

The man named Daniel pulled the door wide open and stepped aside to let his guests come inside. He quickly locked the door behind them. His movements were slow and shaky despite his haste. They settled inside his living room.

_Can I offer you some tea?

Daniel came back with two steaming cups.

_Thank you.

_What can I do for you, the Doctor asked abruptly.

Daniel stopped in his tracks as he was fussing with a pot of milk. He took a seat next to the coffee table. After a few seconds of silence, he finally spoke.

_I’ve been sick for a few months now and the doctors can’t figure it out.

_Can you tell me what’s going on, in your own words?

Daniel hesitated for a bit.

_It’s OK, you can trust her, Graham explained.

_Alright, I suppose I can tell you. At night I can feel my legs detach from my body and move around the house by themselves. When I wake up in the morning, I feel tired and bruised but I know for a fact that I haven’t been moving. It’s just not possible. What’s going on with me?

Graham and the Doctor looked at each other.

_Can you show me your legs, Daniel?

_Of course.

The Doctor got up to Daniel and helped him lift his pajama pants to his knees. Nothing suspicious appeared to the naked eye. But the Doctor had come prepared. She opened her briefcase and pulled out a strange thingamabob. She poked Daniel’s legs with it until it emitted a small hum.

_Hmm, interesting. Did you say you saw your legs disappear, or simply felt like they had disappeared?

As she was asking that, the Doctor washed her hands with a hydro-alcoholic solution before examining Daniel’s eyes with another thingamabob.

_I didn’t see my legs, I couldn’t, it was dark. But I felt them move away from my body.

_How did you know they were moving around your house?

_It was as if the link between my legs and the rest of my body wasn’t completely broken. I still had some feelings in my legs, except they felt like they were standing up and the rest of my body was lying down. It was really weird.

_When did it start? And how often does it happen?

_It started six months ago. It’s been happening every night ever since. I don’t really know why. At first I thought I was losing it, but then I started to see some bruises on my legs that couldn’t be explained. They quickly disappeared though.

_Bruises on your legs?

The Doctor examined Daniel’s legs a second time, with a stethoscope. She heard a faint hum coming from the knees.

_Wow, that’s weird.

_What’s weird?

_I’m not sure. Do you remember something out of the ordinary that happened six months ago?

_No.

_Tell her, Daniel, Graham intervened.

_Tell her what?

_Daniel met a woman. They had their first night out six months ago, then she suddenly dumped him.

_That’s not out of the ordinary, Daniel complained.

_You’re right, usually I would say it’s not, but if there is a slight chance that the two events are linked we have to investigate it, the Doctor speculated. Are you sure she was human?

_What?

_Doc!

_I don’t believe in aliens. I know that multiple invasions have been reported all over the news these past few years but I just don’t believe it.

_Are aliens a touchy subject for you, the Doctor asked without missing a beat.

_It’s not a subject at all, Daniel said. I am of the opinion that this alien business is a way to distract us citizens from the real issues at hand with our government.

_I see.

The Doctor cleaned her stethoscope and applied it to Daniel’s forehead. He looked very distressed for a second then he calmed down.

_You didn’t ask me about somnambulism.

_I ruled it out when I examined your legs. They’re emitting a strange form of energy that I can’t identify with my current gear. Besides, nothing seems wrong with your head.

She made a sweeping motion with her Swiss army sonic just to be sure.

_I strongly suggest you come with us to my, well, my lab. I have better equipment there.

_A lab? You’ve got a lab just for yourself? What kind of doctor are you?

_I’m a specialist in all things out of the ordinary. My scientific expertise is beyond everyone else’s on this planet.

_I have to think about it.

_Well don’t think too long, because whatever it is, it is very bad news. I don’t want to stress you but I have to. I think that your condition is potentially lethal.

_You think I might die?

Graham looked just as shocked as Daniel.

_Possibly, the Doctor said with a serious face. I hope not.

Graham glanced at his friend.

_When should I come with, Daniel asked without a second thought.

_Preferably right now.

_Okay. Let me change into something more appropriate.

*

After another fifteen minutes bus ride, the three of them arrived at the Doctor’s TARDIS.

_Here we are. Now, let’s step inside.

Daniel followed the Doctor and Graham inside the TARDIS. He looked around the spaceship, incredulous.

_No way.

He stepped outside, walked around the box, then walked back inside.

_It’s bigger on the inside!

The Doctor and Graham didn’t pay him no mind. They were used to newcomers saying the same thing. The Doctor led her guests to a room where she had set up an examination table and various machines. She put on an apron, a pair of gloves and some goggles.

_Sit down, please, Daniel.

Daniel obeyed. The Doctor placed her stethoscope on his knees once again. She could still hear the same faint humming sound. She made Daniel listen.

_What is this?

_That’s noise, coming from your leg.

_Sounds like some electrical wiring.

_Exactly. Now, sorry but I have to draw some blood.

The Doctor took a small syringe and poked one of Daniel’s legs with it. She took one vial of blood that she examined in various ways.

_Hmm, suspicious.

She rummaged through her shelves and picked up quite a few pieces of tech. She assembled them together to make something indescribable.

_What is it?

_A portable MRI machine.

She used it to scan Daniel’s legs. The imaging appeared on her smartphone.

_Hmm, even more suspicious.

_What is going on, Doctor? What have you found?

_Your blood is full of nanites. So are your bones.

_What are nanites?

_Microscopic computers.

She showed the pictures to her guests.

_I have to figure out what they were designed to do and deactivate them.

_What happens if you can’t figure it out?

_I’m afraid they might take over your entire body like a virus.

_Is there any way to stop that from happening?

_I suppose so. I have to work on it.

_What am I supposed to do in the meantime?

_Tell your friend to come meet me at my lab. I might need to either examine her or interrogate her, depending on the circumstances.

_Alright, I’ll call her.

Daniel didn’t seem too pleased with the news, but he did as he was told.

*

The next morning, a red-haired woman in her forties showed up to the TARDIS’s front door. She could barely walk, and was using a mobility aid to move around.

_What’s this about, Graham, she asked with a very faint and broken voice.

_You’ll see.

_Hello, I’m the Doctor.

_And I’m Suzanne.

The Doctor froze for a second.

_Is something the matter?

_Nothing. Please come in.

The Doctor gestured towards the inside of the TARDIS. Suzanne started exploring it. The Doctor was glad her new design was fairly accessible.

_Suzanne has been experiencing the same symptoms as Daniel, Graham explained in a hushed voice.

_So she might not be the culprit.

_Culprit, Suzanne repeated out loud. Do you think someone did this to us?

_It’s quite possible, yeah, the Doctor answered. But first, I need to examine you.

She lead her guests to another room inside the TARDIS. The decor was different than last time. The wallpapers had changed and so had the layout of the room. But the portable MRI machine was still there as well as the examination table.

_Have a seat, the Doctor said.

Suzanne struggled to sit on the table. The Doctor lowered it with her Swiss army sonic. Once Suzanne was seated, the Doctor took her stethoscope out of her pocket. She listened to her patient’s legs.

_Can you tell me what happened to you, Suzanne?

_Nine months ago, I started having cramps in my legs at night. It was as if I had been running. I also noticed bruises that quickly fade. They appear every so often for no obvious reason. The other doctors diagnosed me with restless leg syndrome.

_That can’t be right. What about the bruises?

_They told me I must have imagined them.

_How cruel.

Suzanne teared up.

_Thank you.

_What about your lack of mobility?

_I’ve had this problem since I was 30 years old, Suzanne explained. I figured it was just my chronic illness getting worse.

_What, unexpectedly?

_These things can happen.

_You sound resigned.

The Doctor listened to her patient’s legs. She heard a familiar faint hum coming from them. She took her portable MRI machine and placed them on the legs. Like the last time, the pictures appeared on her smartphone.

_This is bad.

_What is?

_The bones in your legs have been partly replaced with nanites.

_What do you mean by nanites?

The Doctor could hear the intense worry in Suzanne’s voice.

_Microscopic computers. Depending on their nature, they can act like parasites. I have yet to figure out what these are programmed to do, but if they can eat away at bones, that can’t be good.

The Doctor took a syringe out of another pocket.

_I’m sorry but I have to draw blood.

_Go ahead, Suzanne replied.

She was still in shock. The Doctor poked her leg with the syringe and took a vial of blood. She analyzed it quickly with her Swiss army sonic.

_You’re not using the microscope this time, Graham remarked.

_No need, I have had the time to program my sonic to detect the nanites.

There was a whirling noise coming from the sonic.

_This is bad, really bad, the Doctor repeated.

She labeled the vial of blood and put it in a fortified refrigerated container.

_The blood in your legs is so full of nanites that it doesn’t register as blood anymore.

_What?

_I think we are dealing with an invasive species.

_Doc, can’t you do something about it, Graham exclaimed.

_No, not without their primary code. It will take too long to decipher on my own, I’m afraid.

_What’s going to happen to me?

Suzanne was shaking with terror. The Doctor reassured her.

_Don’t worry, I’ll find a way to restore the bones in your legs.

The Doctor took a notebook and a pen.

_First we have to find the source of the nanites. Can you recall anything out of the ordinary happening nine months ago?

_No, not really.

_Are you sure?

_It was nine months ago, I forgot.

_Come on, try to think.

As Suzanne was closing her eyes to focus her mind, the Doctor extended her hands towards Suzanne’s temples.

_What are you going to do, Doc?

_I am going to try and read Suzanne’s mind for information about the nanites.

At first, the Doctor didn’t see a lot that felt relevant. She saw a birthday taking place during the spring some years ago, she saw a date between Suzanne and some sweet man at a cheap restaurant nearby. She saw the same man kicking Suzanne in the legs. She heard him give Suzanne commands like a tyrant.

_ _Kneel before me._

_ _Yes,_ _M_ _aster,_ Suzanne obeyed.

_ _Now, do as I say._

The Doctor quickly opened her eyes. She kept silent for a while. Graham waved his hand in front of her face. She snapped out of it.

_I still don’t know what happened. Sorry.

_It’s quite alright, Suzanne said.

_Can you tell me what you saw, Graham asked. You look so shaken.

_I saw her getting beat up by her ex.

_Ouch. And how does this have something to do with the nanites?

_There doesn’t seem to have any connection there. I’m so sorry.

_What do you need to do, Doc?

_Well, we can drop Suzanne by her house, for example.

And so they did. She didn’t seem fazed by the fact that the “lab” had moved to the inside of her house.

_You seem very calm about all of this, Suzanne, the Doctor noticed.

_I’m used to all sorts of things, Suzanne replied with poise.

She struggled to get off the TARDIS and into her living room. The Doctor helped her. Graham followed them. Something felt odd to the Doctor. She felt as if some great evil was lurking behind every corner. She scanned the place with her Swiss army sonic when suddenly its circuits fried.

_Whoa. What?

_What was that noise, Doc?

_My sonic just died.

Meanwhile Suzanne was rolling away to another part of her house.

_What should we do, Doc?

_Let’s call the others.

She took her smartphone out and launched WhatsApp.

_Hi, team! I need you to meet me at the following address ASAP.

She shared her own smartphone’s position.

_See you guys later.

_Do you think they’ll be able to come? They have a day job, you know.

_Oh, true. I forgot. Should we follow Suzanne without them?

_I mean, we’re already here so…

The Doctor made a quick run to the TARDIS and came back with one of her thingamabobs.

_What is it?

_A nanite detector.

The dial needle was all the way in the red.

_This is really bad. It’s like the house is made out of nanites.

_That’s because it is.

A male voice was coming from the kitchen. The Doctor recognized it. It was Suzanne’s ex.

_Welcome back, darling, he said to Suzanne.

He kissed her on the forehead and hugged her. Suzanne was limp in his embrace. Her eyes seemed vacant.

_Hello, I’m the Doctor and this is my friend Graham.

_Oy, don’t give him our names.

_Suzanne, did you bring strangers here?

Suzanne kept silent. The man slapped her in the face and kicked her in the legs.

_Ouch!

_Go to your room. I’m dealing with this.

Suzanne obeyed and rolled away to her bedroom next door. The man faced Graham and the Doctor.

_Now, what am I going to do with you?

_What have you done to Suzanne?

The Doctor was angry, a bit more than she expected herself to be. Perhaps because the man was using the name of her worst enemy.

_It’s none of your business, the man said.

_We know about the nanites in her legs, the Doctor said.

_I found them, the man explained. That makes them mine.

_You found them? You didn’t make them?

_I’ve said too much. Nanites, attack!

Part of the kitchen wall detached itself and tried to bind to Graham’s and the Doctor’s wrists.

_How are you controlling them?

_Like I said, they’re mine.

The Doctor could feel her arms becoming as heavy as lead. She was trying really hard to keep motor control over her limbs. Graham was going through the same process. He looked at the Doctor, hoping she would have a trick up her sleeve to get them out of the situation. She didn’t.

_If you didn’t create the nanites, then who did?

_I don’t know. They just appeared to me someday. They’re the perfect tool. With the bones in her legs gone, Suzanne can’t leave me ever.

_And how are you sure they won’t be used against you?

The Doctor closed her eyes and focused her mind.

_You’re succumbing to their spell already? I thought you were tougher than that, Miss Doctor.

_Mind control. You’re using mind control…

_How did you–

_I’m psychic, you see.

The Doctor moved her hands freely. She had broken the so called spell. She made tying motions with her hands. Nanites detached from the walls and attacked Suzanne’s ex.

_How did you do this, he screamed in agony.

_Now, tell me how to get the nanites out of my friends’ bodies!

Yasmin and Ryan arrived just in time to see the man writhe on the floor.

_Doctor, what is going on?

_Stay away, there are nanites everywhere, Graham shouted.

But the two young teammates couldn’t sit by idly as the Doctor and Graham struggled to keep standing. They rushed to offer them some support.

_Please, go, the Doctor mumbled.

_Out of the question.

_The nanites are attacking my body, the man on the floor complained. Make them stop!

_No. Make them stop yourself!

Suzanne started sobbing in her bedroom. Yasmin ran towards the door to see what was happening.

_Who are you? And what’s happening to you?

Suzanne was crying too much to speak. Her face and her legs were bruised.

_Who did this to you?

_Steve, Suzanne finally spoke. He did this.

She pointed to the door towards the kitchen.

_You mean the man writhing on the floor?

_Yes.

*

_Doctor, what are you doing, Ryan asked.

He hadn’t been there for very long but he understood quickly that the Doctor was torturing the man named Steve.

_Let him go.

_I can’t stop, the Doctor breathed. The nanites are in my brain. I need to focus on something. Anything.

_Then focus on me, Ryan said.

_But you will be contaminated.

_Never-mind, it’s better than to have this man’s death on your conscience. Trust me.

_Contact.

The Doctor put her hands on Ryan’s temples and focused on telling him psychically what had happened. As she did, Steve recuperated and attacked Ryan’s legs with nanites. He struggled not to fall on the floor, but he, the Doctor and Graham were all holding each other up.

_Ouch, ouch, ouch! What now?

Yasmin knocked down Steve from behind. The nanites seemed to instantly shut down.

_What, it was that easy?

_What do you mean?

The whole Team TARDIS dragged Steve to the lab. They kept him sedated.

_I need to examine him, the Doctor spoke. It might tell me why he could control the nanites without being psychic.

She was still struggling to walk.

_So that’s something we’ve established, the nanites are psychically linked?

_Yes, Graham.

_Can someone explain to me what’s going on, Yasmin asked.

Ryan obliged her. Meanwhile the Doctor used her portable MRI machine on Steve.

_He has an implant in his brain.

_What type of implant? It’s alien, right?

_Good guess, Ryan. Yes, sadly I can’t tell where from exactly. We’ll have to operate.

_You’re going to open this man’s brain?

_No, Yasmin is going to do it.

_Why me?

The Doctor showed her shaking hands.

_I might damage something. Steve might be a villain but he still deserves a chance at full recovery.

_But we’re talking brain surgery here, it’s nothing like operating a crane!

_Yes, but you can learn it on the spot, right?

_What? No!

_That means yes, right?

_Doctor!

_We don’t have a choice.

_We could take him to an actual surgeon.

_And what do we tell them?

_Leave this to me, Yasmin insisted. Psychic paper, please?

*

Finding a surgeon willing to perform the intervention proved to be difficult. Many were too scared to lose their job, despite Yasmin’s psychic paper credentials. Finally someone stepped up to the task. They were ex-UNIT, and they were experienced in extra-terrestrial shenanigans.

_Thank you so much, the Doctor said breathlessly.

_No problem, Ma’am, the surgeon saluted.

The Doctor didn’t have the strength to argue about the salute.

_What do you need me to do exactly?

She showed them an MRI image of Steve’s brain taken earlier.

_We need you to take this implant out of his brain, Yasmin explained for the Doctor.

Team TARDIS was all knackered from the nanites’ attack.

_Why is he sedated? He needs to be awake.

_To slow the spread of dangerous nanites, if I recall correctly, Yasmin explained.

_Yes.

_Nanites?

_Yep.

_I take it you’ve all been infected, the surgeon guessed.

_All of us except for Yaz.

_How did the contamination occur? I need to take precautions.

_As far as we know, our patient Steve willed it so.

_What, with the power of his mind?

_And that chip, the Doctor added while pointing at her phone.

The surgeon took a look around the TARDIS’s lab.

_I know you have a lot of tech here, but I’m going to need a proper hospital to do this operation.

_Tell me what you need, I can make it happen.

*

_Here you go, the surgeon said as they put the last stitch in Steve’s skull.

They gave the alien implant to the Doctor while Steve was grunting disapprovingly in his chair.

_What now, Doctor?

_I’m going to analyze it and find a way to deactivate the nanites.

_What, in your state?

Team TARDIS’s health seemed to have degraded over the six hours it took to remove the chip from their patient’s brain.

_It feels like my legs are detaching from my body, Ryan described.

_It hurts like hell, Graham complained.

The Doctor didn’t say anything but she was grinding her teeth because of the pain.

_I might know someone, the surgeon said.

They were abruptly interrupted by Steve. He screamed at the top of his lungs.

_You don’t understand what you just did! They will kill us! They will kill me!

_Who will?

_Them!

There was a sickly yellow glow that lit up the whole room. Missy appeared out of a strange fog. She hadn’t changed a bit from the last time they met except for her sense of clothing. She was wearing a lab coat on top of an old pair of jeans and a hand-knitted sweater.

_Missy! Is that you?

_Who?

She clearly didn’t seem to recognize the Doctor.

_It’s me, the Doctor. I’ve changed.

_Doctor who?

The Doctor’s hearts sank in her chest.

_Missy! Are you behind this?

_Who is Missy? My name is Sasha Cook and I have no idea what you’re talking about.

The Doctor scanned her with her restored Swiss army sonic and detected no trace of Time Lord DNA in Sasha’s body. The Doctor felt a great sadness overcome her. Maybe Sasha was just the human face that Missy had copied. It took the Doctor a few seconds to notice that Sasha Cook was raising her hands and that behind her, a judoon operative was standing by.

_You will release the prisoner, he grunted while pointing a gun at everyone.

The surgeon intervened.

_My patient isn’t ready to move around yet.

_The prisoner isn’t the meat suit, the judoon responded. Is this the thief, he asked Sasha while pointing at Steve.

_Yes, Sasha answered.

Yasmin put the implant on the floor between Team TARDIS and the judoon who took it without a word. He then shot Steve in the face and his body disintegrated.

_Hey, you, release your own prisoner, the Doctor claimed boldly while presenting her psychic paper.

_No, the judoon simply stated.

He disappeared with Sasha as quickly as he had arrived.

_What now, Doctor?

_Well I suppose this leaves us some time to develop an antidote.

*

Team TARDIS and friends met a few weeks later at the lab to get their biweekly injections of anti-nanite serum.

_Who is Missy, Yasmin asked.

_An old enemy.

The Doctor’s voice was soft, almost nostalgic.

_An ex, Ryan probed.

_What? No way! I don’t go out with villains!

_I’m just teasing you.

_Oh, good.

The Doctor was flustered. Everyone had a laugh.

_It’s sad what happened to Steve, Suzanne observed solemnly.

_Judoons are not known for their compassion or their regards for sentient life.

_What are judoons?

_People you don’t want to meet. Let’s leave it at that.

_Okay.

Team TARDIS noticed that Daniel was holding Suzanne in her arms.

_So you too are back together?

_How could we not? We love each other.

_It was only because of Steve that we broke up, Suzanne explained.

_Yes, I know, the Doctor said.

Her face was concerned.

_Have you sought out counseling for what happened?

_Yes. I have an amazing psychologist, they help me immensely.

_Good! And how are your legs now?

_Better, still a bit shaky. The bones in my legs have grown back but the physical illness is still there.

_Unfortunately, the anti-nanite serum isn’t a cure all.

_I don’t mind.

Suzanne showed her new cane. She was proud of her new floral pattern that was matching with her dress.

_Time for a toast, Yasmin shouted.

Each took a glass of champagne.

_To friendship.

_To love.

_To freedom.


End file.
